Hell and the Near-Death
Experience

As with heaven, there are various hell realms
witnessed by near-death experiencers. We can even see many manifestations
of hell right here in the physical realm. There are people in
prison, in the Bahamas, in mental institutions, universities,
skid row, palaces, crack houses, all kinds of life situations.
While hell realms can be seen outside all around the world as
a manifestation of an inner hell within humans, hell realms
in the spirit world are an even greater manifestation of inner
hell within humans. Near-death accounts show that the hell realms
in the spirit world are actually the spiritual/mental manifestations
of spiritual conditions that humans create within themselves
while on Earth.

Between the Earth realm
and the heavenly realms, there exists two hellish realms known
as (1) the earthbound realm and (2) the void. Both
of these realms can be considered hell because they are the
two darker levels. This web page will focus only on the earthbound
realm. The earthbound realm is a hellish dimension that overlaps
the physical realm. It is a dimension where souls who are bound
by some strong earthly fixation, may remain indefinitely until
they are able to extract themselves from this fixation. After
death, most souls expand very quickly through the dark hellish
realms of the earthbound realm and the void, by means of the
tunnel and on to higher realms.

The following are highlights
concerning the earthbound hell which will be described. It is
a state of mind where earthly, physical desires cannot be satisfied
and is due to a lack of spiritual development. This hellish
state of mind is the result of living a hellish life and is
neither condemnation nor judgment. Its purpose is purification
not punishment. The ways to escape from the earthbound realm
will be discussed and the reasons why negativity must be removed
in order to enter heaven. NDE examples of the earthbound realm,
including traditional hell, fire and brimstone NDEs, will be
presented. Religious descriptions of the earthbound realm and
scriptures suggesting universal salvation will be provided here.
Even more Biblical and NDE evidence of universal
salvation can be found at the
link provided here.

1. Hell is a State of Mind

"Hell is a state of mind. When we die, we are bound by what we
think." (Angie
Fenimore)

"Hell is a psychological condition which represents the hellish
inner thoughts and desires within some souls. In hell, souls
become uninhibited and their hellish condition is fully manifested.
No demons are there to inflict punishment. Each soul acts out
their own anger and hatred by warring and tormenting others."
(Emanuel
Swedenborg)

"The hell of hells is knowing you were your own devil." (Arthur
Yensen)

"Hell refers to levels of negative thought-forms that reside
in close proximity to the Earth realm. It is where we go to
work out, or remain within, our hang-ups, addictions, fears,
guilt, angers, rage, regrets, self-pity, arrogance, or whatever
else blocks us from the power of our own light." (P.M.H. Atwater)

"Hell is a level of consciousness which can be experienced in
or out of the body." (Arthur
Yensen)

2. Hell is Having Earthly Desires That Can't
Be Satisfied

"Hell is a place where everyone retains the physical desires
they were fixated on without a way to satisfy them. Hell is
real hell for anyone who lives only to satisfy their selfish
desires." (Arthur
Yensen)

"One level of hell exists right here on Earth where an earthly
desire is craved but cannot be satisfied." (Dr.
George Ritchie)

"Hell contains people who have been alcoholics or drug addicts,
who find these cravings still with them after death. They stay
near the Earth to be near alcoholics or drug addicts who are
still in the physical body, in order to participate vicariously
in the sensations which alcohol and drugs give. They can be
helped in the world beyond to clear their soul bodies of these
cravings so that they, too, may go on and progress. However,
this is a long and tedious process." (Margaret
Tweddell)

There is no geographic hell. We build our hells right here in
our own lives. (Harry
Hone)

The quality of life after death for a suicide is determined
by their motive for killing themselves. Those who kill themselves
from drugs, alcohol, or any other addiction, may become stuck
in limbo trying in vain to satisfy their addiction until eventually
something frees them. Those who, because of mental illness,
confusion, or a terminal illness, take their own life, are allowed
many opportunities from God to grow in love just as any other
person would who had not committed suicide. (Dr.
George Ritchie)

Earthbound souls linger around the living, usually to try to
satisfy a physical desire. (Betty
Bethards)

If an addiction isn't conquered before death, it could keep
your soul earthbound. (Ruth
Montgomery)

Your personality - your likes and dislikes, your hopes, your
fears-are still attached to you, although in a more nebulous
form that when you are on Earth in a physical body. (Margaret
Tweddell)

3. Hell is Caused By a Lack of Spiritual
Development

"Hell is a lack of wisdom and not moving forward to progress.
Hell is not a place." (Cecil)

"Hell is a spiritual condition we create by being away from God
until we choose to return to God. Hell is a spiritual condition
that is totally devoid of love." (Sandra
Rogers)

"Hell is the pain, anguish, hurt and anger that you have caused
others or who suffered as a result of your actions/words to
others. Hell is what you have created for yourself within your
soul by turning your back on unconditional love, compassion
and peace." (Tina)

"What people call hell is really a spiritual time-out condition
in which souls reflect and work out the things that blocked
them from the power of their own light." (P.M.H.Atwater)

"Concerning hell, heat is molecules in motion, while cold is
their lack of motion. Likewise, love is a fast vibration of
the soul, while hate is a slower vibration. Complete love would
be God, while complete hate would be death, leaving the soul
extinct." (Arthur
Yensen)

"Heaven and hell are spiritual states of being. They are not
static states but are states in which there can be growth and
progress toward ultimate wholeness of being." (Margaret
Tweddell)

"The difference between life on Earth and life in the spirit
is that your spirit world corresponds to your inner nature."
(Nora
Spurgin)

"As there are degrees of heaven or hell on Earth, so there are
degrees of heaven or hell in the spiritual world." (Margaret
Tweddell)

"After death people gravitate into homogenous groups according
to the rate of their soul's vibrations much like throwing
a small pebble into a threshing machine. It goes into the box
that fits its proper size and weight. After death, we are sorted
by the high or low vibrations of our soul. Everyone goes where
they fit in! High vibrations indicate love and spiritual development,
while low vibrations indicate debasement and evil. All one has
to do is to love so unselfishly that their soul-vibrations rise
high enough to fit into heaven." (Arthur
Yensen)

"An extreme neglect of spiritual matters on Earth can result
in an earthbound condition. This is the condition people often
associate with ghosts." (Dr.
Michael Newton)

"The quality of life after death for a suicide is determined
by their motive for killing themselves. Those who kill themselves
in order to hurt someone, get revenge, or who kill themselves
out of hatred for someone else, will haunt the living by being
aware of every horrible consequence their suicide had on others.
Those who, because of mental illness, confusion, or a terminal
illness, take their own life, are allowed many opportunities
from God to grow in love just as any other person would who
had not committed suicide." (Dr.
George Ritchie)

"People who have an orientation of hate, for instance, find themselves
unable to appreciate a realm of love and harmony. Therefore,
they continue in their state of bitterness and are 'closed'
to the glory which exists around them." (Margaret
Tweddell)

"Those who have stunted their spiritual growth through an undeveloped
or misdirected lifestyle, have led a purely self-centered life
or have hurt other people, their spiritual environment will
reflect something of these realities. A self-centered life on
Earth places one in an area of the spirit world with like-minded
people who have yet to learn the value of unselfishness for
the advancement of the soul." (Nora
Spurgin)

"The spiritual state of being you have on Earth is the spiritual
state you take with you to the world beyond when you die. There
is no sudden metamorphosis from an idle person into an active
person, from a nonreligious person into a religious person,
from a money-centered person into a God-centered person. This
is not an automatic thing." (Margaret
Tweddell)

"Environments distant from God are said to be dark, cold and
inhospitable. Indeed, they reflect the spirits of those dwelling
there." (Nora
Spurgin)

"We create our own hell within us while we live on Earth. After
death, we step into this hell." (Kevin
Williams)

4. Hell is Caused By Living a Hellish Life

"In the spirit world, everyone lives in the kind of a heaven
or hell that they have prepared for themselves while on Earth."
(Arthur
Yensen)

"People are in hell before they die. At death, we are gathered
together with those who think as we do." (Angie
Fenimore)

"The general rule of thumb is this: hellish life, hellish afterlife
- heavenly life, heavenly afterlife. Death will not change a
hellish life into a heavenly afterlife, nor does it change a
heavenly life into a hellish afterlife." (Dr.
Melvin Morse)

"Occasionally, the encounter with light is perceived as a reflection
of the fires of hell." (IANDS
FAQ)

"Physical desires can be carried over into the afterlife but
physical desires cannot be satisfied there. This can create
a hellish condition for those who have them." (Nora
Spurgin)

5. Hell is Neither Condemnation Nor Judgment

"There is no condemnation in hell, only the outworking of our
own misjudgments, mistakes, misalignments, or misappropriations."
(P.M.H. Atwater)

"Those with too many negative thought patterns might flee the
light of God after death because they are too ashamed or too
afraid to have their inner thoughts and negative natures revealed
to everyone." (Dr.
George Ritchie)

"After his death, Jesus descended into the lower afterlife
regions to 'unlock' the gates of hell. But souls still
remaining there - for them - the gates are locked from the
inside. Nevertheless, NDE evidence reveals Jesus continues
to rescue souls from hell during a near-death experience." (Kevin
Williams)

"I saw the reasons for all of my actions and understood why I
did what I had done. There was a place for all of my positive
and negative actions. There was no action that was necessarily
wrong, but there were actions I took that did not enhance positive
growth." (David
Oakford)

"In hell, we have the opportunity to either revel in our folly
or come to grips with the reality of consequences -that every
action has a reaction, what is inflicted on another can be returned
in kind. This is not a punishment for our sins but a confrontation
with any distortion of our sense of values and priorities." (P.M.H. Atwater)

"Just knowing the bad mistakes you made through your carelessness
or your selfishness is a hell. You don't need a devil prodding
you with a fork." (Margaret
Tweddell)

"God does not condemn anyone to hell and there is no eternal
damnation. We have the ability to condemn ourselves to the hell
we create within ourselves." (Kevin
Williams)

"The God of love suffers for those in darkness, ignorance and
misery." (Nora
Spurgin)

"Many people believe that those who don't give verbal assent
to Jesus are cast headlong into eternal fire to burn forever.
It should be common sense to anyone that a God of love would
never treat people this way. As Jesus said, even an evil father
knows how to give good things to children." (Kevin
Williams)

6. How To Escape From the Earthbound Realm

While Benedict was in hell, he called out to the light and the
light opened up and formed a tunnel that insulated him from
all that fear and pain. (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict)

"The way out of these hellish realms is to have a willingness
to see the light and seek love for others and God." (Angie
Fenimore)

To escape the darkness, you must cry out to God. Then the light
will appear. (Rev.
Howard Storm)

"From what may anyone be saved? Only from themselves! That is,
their individual hell. They dig it with their own desires." (Edgar
Cayce)

"The gates of hell are open. Those in hell will eventually join
up, link hands, and walk out of hell together." (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict)

"We stay in hell for however long best serves our development.
We do not leave until we have changed our attitudes and perceptions."
(P.M.H. Atwater)

"Souls in the hellish realms do not have the same powers to progress
and achieve joy that others with more light in the higher afterlife
realms have. Their progress is limited - a result of divine
justice. However, these souls can choose to grow if they wish."
(RaNelle
Wallace)

"The living have auras of light surrounding their bodies. If
the aura becomes distorted through alcohol or drugs, an earthbound
soul can temporarily possess the body." (Dr.
George Ritchie)

"There are no permanent sinners. Even the saddest example of
humanity can become the greatest." (Harry
Hone)

"Accept the greater power around you and let go of the Earth
and its desires." (Margaret
Tweddell)

"Based on a soul's desire and willingness, those in hell
are given an opportunity for an upward journey." (Nora
Spurgin)

"People on Earth are protected from earthbound discarnates and
any harm they may try to do against us when they focus on the
love within them." (Kevin
Williams)

"To appreciate heaven well it is good for a man to have some
fifteen minutes of hell." (Will
Carleton)

7. Negativity Must Be Removed to Enter Heaven

"At this point, I could feel this group of beings eliminate or
pull from me the negative energy of my life in the physical
world and fill me with love beyond what I can describe." (Sherry
Gideon)

"After death, if a soul has been too bad, they go to a realm
of lower vibrations where their kind of thoughts can live. If
they entered heaven, they would be annihilated by the Master-Vibration
of God. This is because souls gravitate into groups according
to the rate of their soul's vibrations. If the percent of
discord in a soul is small, it can be eliminated by God; then
the remaining good can live on in heaven. However, if the percentage
of bad were too high, this couldn't be done, and the person
would have to gravitate to a lower level and live with people
of his own kind. Birds of a feather, flock together."(Arthur
Yensen)

"Since I had lived such a totally self-serving existence, I was
in a hellish state of indescribable agony and sorrow. I was
in shear agony. I still remember being on my knees while this
blinding light broke and crushed my false-ego. This breaking
process was extremely painful." (Daniel
Rosenblit)

"God is the Master-Vibration who neutralizes all negative thoughts
so that you think only the good thoughts, such as love, freedom
and happiness." (Arthur
Yensen)

"God's love looks at all of us throughout the eyes of eternity.
God's overriding desire is to purify the darkness of our
souls, irrespective of the suffering God has to put us through
to achieve that end. However, it will greatly minimize our suffering
if we learn to accept instead of fighting against our situation
in life." (Daniel
Rosenblit)

"There are earthbound spirits of low vibrations, whom we may
regard as devils because they annoy us through mental telepathy.
These demons tune in on us through our low vibrations of hate,
fear and greed. They can be tuned out with unselfish love, or
if necessary be chased away by the stronger spirit of Jesus
Christ." (Arthur
Yensen)

"The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't
let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. They burn
them all away, but they're not punishing you, they're
freeing your soul." (Meister
Eckhart)

"The purpose of religion is not so much to get us into heaven,
or to keep us out of hell, but to put a little bit of heaven
into us, and take the hell out of us." (E.
Stanley Jones)

8. NDE Examples of the Earthbound Realm

The following are summaries of the NDE accounts
of those who experienced this earthbound region for themselves.

David Oakford saw dark souls who were earthbound and who refused
to go to the light. They prey on the energies of the living
in an attempt to prevent the evolution of their spirit. David
learned that we protected from these dark ones as long as we
chose to focus on the love within us. David noticed that the
dark ones did not even try to affect him. They just gave him
nasty looks and went away. David was told that whenever he sees
one, he was to tell them to go to the light. The light is a
porthole to the place all souls go if they choose to go. David
learned that higher beings know where to go and what to do to
help an earthbound soul so they may advance themselves if they
so choose to do so. (David
Oakford)

Josiane saw faces rushing toward her with incredible speed.
They would race toward her face, expanding and then dissolving.
Face after face washed over her and she is terrified. She drifted
along and was unable to keep her eyes open. She wondered who
these people were. She recognized some of them as people she
knew who had died. The whole room was filled with spirits and
they would hover near her and look into her eyes. She tried
to push them away and she fought them. This experience seemed
to go on forever. She identified these people as restless spirits.
Their faces were twisted with pain and they seemed lost. She
was frightened to see them around her. Suddenly, spirits with
glowing faces appeared to her. They reflect a gentle and powerful
light which reminded her of pictures of beautiful angels. (Josiane
Antonette)

While in the earthbound realm, Howard Pittman watched living
people going about their daily pursuit and completely unaware
that they were being stalked by beings from the spirit world.
Pittman refers to this earthbound realm as the first heaven.
He was totally flabbergasted as he watched in horror demons
in all shapes and forms moving at will among the humans. Pittman
was shown an employee's lounge on Earth where a young man
and young woman were talking and laughing. Between them was
a grotesque demon who was unseen by the two. Pittman learned
that this was a demon of lust. Pittman watched in astonishment
as the demon entered the body of the young man. Pittman was
told that the demon made himself desirable to the young man
and he accepted by his own free will to violate his space. (Rev.
Howard Pittman)

"Emanuel Swedenborg's description of the first stage
after death is a remarkable description of the earthbound realm:
After death, there are
various states that souls must pass through before arriving
in heaven or hell. The first state involves their more outward
aspects and the second [the void] involves
their more inward aspects. The first state after death is very
much like their state in the physical world, since at that point
they are similarly involved in outward matters. This is why
some souls are unaware that they are dead. (Emanuel
Swedenborg)

Dr. George Ritchie's NDE:
Jesus took Ritchie to a large city on Earth where he observed
earthbound souls stalking the living for one reason or another.
One earthbound soul begged in vain for a cigarette. A young
man who committed suicide begged his parents in vain for forgiveness.
In a house, Ritchie was shown the soul of a boy following a
living teenage girl and begging for forgiveness despite the
fact that the girl was completely unaware of the boy's presence.
Jesus told Ritchie that the boy committed suicide and was chained
to every consequence of his act. Then Ritchie saw group of drunken sailors
in a bar with earthbound alcoholics trying in vain to get a
drink. Ritchie is horrified when he witnessed a sailor pass
out and an earthbound alcoholic quickly possess his body. Jesus and Ritchie then viewed a realm that
was jammed with hordes of angry, frustrated, and miserable earthbound
souls who were locked in fights to the death. Yet, nobody could
be injured. Ritchie realized that this was hell where souls
are enslaved to habits of destructive thought-patterns. He also
witnessed frustrated souls attempting to perform sexual acts.
He saw souls arguing over religion or politics and trying to
kill those who disagreed with them. Whatever anyone thought
was instantly apparent to everyone there. Most of the thoughts
he heard were thoughts such as, "I told you so!" and "I
always knew!" and "Didn't I warn you!"
Ritchie became aware
that Jesus did not condemn them and that he had only love for
them. The only thing that kept each soul from leaving this realm
was that they all shared the same kind of thoughts. This created
a bond where soul of similar feathers can flock together. Ritchie
wonders if these souls had fled the light that showed up the
darkness of their souls. Jesus then takes Ritchie away from
there. (Dr.
George Ritchie)

Ruth Montgomery: This is
an example of a person who is so sure that there is no God and
no hereafter that he treats others badly while on Earth and
he feels no moral obligation to lend a helping hand or to be
a decent citizen. When he makes the transition he is angry
and tempestuous as he finds himself in a situation of his own
making, surrounded by other greedy souls who, because they are
in like situation, welcome him gleefully to the hell that they
have created for themselves. He tries to break out of the fiendish
group, but they surround him. He is utterly miserable, for he
now begins to see the folly of his ways but does not know how
to avert his fate. He is left there until his own remorse for
sinful ways begins to penetrate his being and he acknowledges
to himself that he wasted a lifetime, a rare privilege, by thinking
only of himself. After he reaches full
repentance he is then able to free himself of the unrepentant
creatures around him, and for a long time thereafter he searches
his own soul to review the past mistakes. This is sometimes
a long, drawn-out process because he will have to make his way
alone. Only he is able to assess his wrongs and seek forgiveness,
although there are many here willing to lend a hand whenever
he reaches out to them for it. (Ruth
Montgomery)

Ruth Montgomery: People
who die as an alcoholic may hover around people on Earth who
drink too much, lusting after the pleasures of alcoholism yet
unable to break the bond of habit which bound them to their
physical bodies. The same with heavy smokers or drug users,
there or here, or the sex maniacs who take advantage of others
to appease the bodily craving for intercourse.This is a very important
lesson which we learn on this side. To escape the perpetual
cycle of rebirth into physical form, we must erase the ties,
the shackles which bind us to satiation of the physical body.
So try to lick the bad habits while on Earth. It is easier by
far than to come unloose from them on Earth. Those who neither
drink nor smoke nor use drugs nor lust after sex will be free
of those shackles on the other side. It is easier while in physical
form to break those shackles than it is to undo them on the
other side, where no temptations are put in our way. Thus, there
is no reward for behaving correctly here in spirit, because
there is nothing to tempt us otherwise. The hard school is in
the physical one, and there it is there that we must meet and
overcome the temptations. (Ruth
Montgomery)

"A friend of mine who had recently taken his life came through
and did not know how to go into the light. I kept telling him
to go forward to the light, but he was afraid of judgment. He
couldn't forgive himself. Also, he was having a problem
with the fact that after he had taken his own life, his spirit
obviously lingered around the scene of the act. He could not
overcome the memory of his father's discovering him, and
that was haunting him emotionally to a tremendous degree in
the next dimension. What he and many of us don't understand
is that there is judgment there, but it is not done by God on
a throne. Judgment rests basically with yourself. It can take
eons of time as we understand it before they go into the light.
It depends on the person." (George
Anderson)

9. The Traditional Hellfire and Brimstone
NDEs

"Why do some people have NDEs that resembles the fire and brimstone
hell of the Bible while other people describe a different kind
of hell? The quick answer is that there are many kinds of hells
and many kinds of heavens. A person's situation in life
and after death is based upon many factors including: perception,
perspective, cultural and religious background, spirituality
or lack thereof, and education. If you examine enough hellish
NDEs that resemble the traditional hellfire and brimstone, you
will notice that they mostly occur to fundamentalist Christians.
Life after death often means "getting what you expect",
that is, if you believe heaven is a place where you float on
a cloud and play a harp, you just might get that when you die.
And only when you realize that this kind of heaven is a fanatasy-to-be-abandoned
will you find reality different. In other words, reality is
what you make it. This applies on Earth as it is in heaven.
If we believe that such a hell exists, it actually does exist
- in our own minds. And since the afterlife is the realm of
the mind and spirit, these hellish conditions actually exist
merely by creating them in our own mind. This is why it is critical
that we be careful what we put in our minds and what we build
there. For more information about the differences between NDEs
visit my NDE Differences page." (Kevin
Williams)

After an attempted suicide, John Bunyan
(1628-1688) was given an extended guided tour of hell containing
all the traditional images of fire, brimstone, devils, tormentors,
etc. Bunyan, an English author and preacher imprisoned for his
faith, is best known for his fictional work, The Pilgrim's Progress.
(John
Bunyan)

Rev. Kenneth Hagin descended into a pit until a darkness totally
surrounded him. The farther down he went, the darker and hotter
it became until he could see the fingers of flames playing on
the dark walls of the pit. In front of him, beyond the entrance
into hell, he saw giant, orange flames. He was pulled toward
hell like a magnet pulls metal. He was aware of some kind of
creature at his right side, which he didn't dare look at,
that escorted him toward the entrance to hell. When he did,
a powerful voice spoke which caused everything to shake. Kenneth
then floated back up through the darkness to the top of the
pit. (Rev.
Kenneth Hagin)

Don Brubaker travels through a tunnel while a large, eerie red
eye peers at him which he realizes to be his own. While in the
tunnel, he is stricken with panic and believes he is in hell.
A voice, which he identifies to be God's, tells him not
to fear. He has been chosen to write about what he is experiencing.
He is told he must testify about the reality of hell. Afterward,
he is drawn into a vast, flaming oven filled with other people.
They laugh as they realize the flames are not painful. Suddenly,
he is alone in the dark with God communicating to him. In an
instant, he is aware of everyone in his life whom he was ever
angry with. Afterward, he floats in a glorious deep blue sky.
Christ appears shining a tremendous amount of light. Christ
gives Don a choice of staying or returning to the physical world.
Thoughts of his family cause him to choose to return. Before
he returns, Don is taken back in time to witness the crucifixion
of Christ. (Don
Brubaker)

Buddhism: The deceased eventually
enters a realm of hungry ghosts were the deceased have huge
stomachs and throats the size of pinholes. Because of this,
they wander around in a constant state of unsatisfied ravenous
desire. Eventually, the unliberated deceased encounters the
Lord of Death for judgment. The Lord of Death holds up before
him the Mirror of Karma where every good and evil act is vividly
reflected. Now demons approach and begin to inflict torments
and punishments upon the deceased for their evil deeds. Even
here the deceased can attain liberation by recognizing this.
The deceased who is still not liberated after the Judgment will
now be drawn remorselessly toward reincarnation. At some point,
liberation is no longer possible and the deceased are instructed
on how to choose the best womb for a favorable reincarnation.
(Buddhism)

Hinduism: Each of the dimensions
of the Great Mandala of the Cosmos represents a quality of energy,
or light. Each dimension of this Mandala, which moves out from
the central Whiteness, are infinite numbers of possible worlds
and various kinds of embodiment. The dimension which we live
in now is on the outskirts of this Great Mandala. Dimensions
even farther away from the center may be called "hells"
where there is less awareness, less possibilities, than the
dimension we live in now. (Hinduism)

Islam: Muslim theologians,
particularly those of the Asharite school, believed that if
a believer entered hell, God could forgive his sins or nonconformities
and remove him, either immediately or after a certain period
during which imperfections had been burned away. The basis for
this doctrine is the Hadith: "He shall make men come out
of hell after they have been burned and reduced to cinders."
In addition to this purgatory of suffering, there is another
Muslim limbo - al-A'raf (the "heights" or "ramparts"),
described in a chapter of the Koran by that name - in which
those souls reside that do not merit damnation yet are unable
to enter paradise. (Muslim)

Judaism: In rabbinical thought,
the model for heaven was Eden. The rabbinic word for hell, Gehenna,
is taken from the name of a valley of fire where children were
said to be sacrificed as burnt offerings to Baal and Moloch
(Semitic deities). Jewish legend paints hell with all of the
vividness that medieval Christians did, even associating particular
tortures with particular sins. (Judaism)

Gnosticism: Christian Gnostics
viewed living on Earth as a kind of hell. Gnosticism saw human
beings as trapped in a cycle of reincarnation and believed that
even suicide could not release one from bondage to the flesh.
In marked contrast with orthodox Christian belief, bodily resurrection
was not viewed as part of the scheme of redemption. Rather,
only the destruction of the body and of all Satan's visible
creation - which is hell - was adequate to ensure salvation
of the soul and its ascent to heaven. (Gnosticism)

Christianity: Scriptures
showing souls do not stay in hell forever:

a. "[Jesus]
went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long
ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the
ark was being built." (1
Peter 3:18-20)

b. "That
servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready
or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many
blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving
punishment will be beaten with few blows." (Luke
12:47-48)

c. "Settle
matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.
Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand
you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the
officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth,
you will not get out until you have paid the last penny."
(Matthew
5:22-26)

d. It should be difficult
for any Christian to honestly conceive of a God of infinite
love and mercy to permit even one soul to be tortured forever
in hell. It is common sense that a few minutes in hell is enough
for even the hardest of sinners to change their mind and repent.
And what kind of God would create someone knowing that he will
ultimately throw that person in hell to be tortured forever?
It should be obvious that it would be better for God to not
even create such a person. If an evil father treats his children
better than this, how much more so God? Jesus stated:
"Which
of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or
if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then,
though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to
those who ask him!" (Matthew
7:9-11)

11. The Purpose for Hell is Purification
Not Punishment

The early Church developed the concept of purgatory based
on particular passages of scripture.

a.
According to St. Isidore of Seville
the Church taught that in the next life: "Some sins will
be forgiven and purged away by a certain purifying fire."
(Deord. creatur., c. xiv, n. 6)

b.
St. Augustine
also argued: "Some sinners are not forgiven either in this
world or in the next, would not be truly said unless there were
other [sinners] who, though not forgiven in this world, are
forgiven in the world to come" (De Civ. Dei, XXI, xxiv).

c.
The same interpretation is given by Gregory the Great
(Dial., IV, xxxix); St. Bede
(commentary on this text); St. Bernard
(Sermo lxvi in Cantic., n.11) and other eminent theological
writers.

d.
Origen,
the first great Church father, taught that purgatory is the
true description of hell. He believed if people depart this
life with lighter faults, they are condemned to fire which burns
away the lighter materials, preparing their souls for the kingdom
of God, where nothing defiled may enter. He wrote: "For if on the foundation of Christ you have built
not only gold and silver and precious stones; but also wood
and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall
be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with
your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of
God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without
and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious
stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed
to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God
to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing
fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the
creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble. It is
manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions
and then returns to us the reward of our great works."
(P. G., XIII, col. 445, 448).

Origen based this statement on the following Bible verse:

a. "It
will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality
of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will
receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss;
he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the
flames." (1
Corinthians 3:11-15)

"In the Council of Lyons,
in 1274 A.D., it was stated that after death the soul goes promptly
either to heaven or to hell. On the Day of Judgment, all will
stand before the tribunal of Christ with their bodies to render
account of what they have done.

12. NDEs Support Universal Salvation

"What all people seek, what sustains them, is love, the light
told me. What distorts people is a lack of love. The revelations
coming from the light seemed to go on and on, then I asked the
light, "Does this mean that humankind will be saved?"
Then, like a trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling lights,
the Great Light spoke, saying, "Remember this and never
forget; you save, redeem and heal yourself. You always have.
You always will. You were created with the power to do so from
before the beginning of the world. In that instant I realized
even more. I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED, and we
saved ourselves because we were designed to self-correct like
the rest of God's universe." (Mellen-Thomas
Benedict)

"Life is a cycle of improvements and humans are not perfect yet.
Most people have this secret revealed to them when they die."
(Dr.
Frank Oski)

"All souls were created in the beginning and are finding their
way back to God." (Edgar
Cayce)

"We are immortal and indestructible. We have always been alive,
we always will be, and there is no way in this world that we
can ever be lost. It is impossible for anyone to fall into a
crack in the universe somewhere and never be heard from again.
We are utterly safe and we have always been forever and ever."
(Jayne
Smith)

"From the light we have come, and to the light we all shall return."
(Josiane
Antonette)

"It is God's love for us that sends us on our journey and
it is our love for God that allows us to return to God's
loving arms again." (David
Goines)

"A central aspect of our eternal existence is continued spiritual
growth through love and service. We can spend what seems like
an eternity before incarnating in the flesh. During that period
in the spirit world, soul growth can be attained there as well."
(Nora
Spurgin)

"It [reincarnation] is a universal process, and prevails not
only in the human kingdom but also throughout the whole of nature.
Whenever we find a living form, the consciousness of that form
is also evolving, using temporarily for that purpose the physical
form in order that it may gain physical experience. In each
incarnation we have a different physical body, a different name,
and may have different souls acting as parents, but these changes
do not in the slightest imperil our individuality ... Reincarnation
is not an endless process, and when we have learned the lessons
taught in the World-School we return no more to physical incarnation
unless we come back of our own accord to act as Teachers of
humanity or as Helpers in the glorious plan of evolution." (Amber
Wells)

"Without physical bodies, feelings of hate and fear are intensified
as souls [in hell] vainly try to hide from their enemies. Their
only hope is to reincarnate. Then unfortunately when they do,
they may forget all about their torment in hell and again lead
lives of greed and tyranny. This miserable cycle can continue
forever unless they find salvation in one of their lifetimes.
Such people really need a savior, since they are not able to
help themselves. I'm sure Christ incarnated to help them
because he said, 'I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.'" (Arthur
Yensen)

14. Scriptures Supporting Universal Salvation

a.
"The Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything
under him, so that God may be all in all." (1
Corinthians 15:28)

b.
"God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to
a knowledge of the truth." (1
Timothy 2:3-4)

c.
"But I, when I am lifted up from the Earth,
will draw all men
to myself." (John
12:32)

f. "[God]
is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but
everyone
to come to repentance." (2
Peter 3:9)

g.
"For this we labor and strive, that we have put our hope in the
living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of
those who believe." (1
Timothy 4:10)

h. "And
he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his
good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect
when the times will have reached their fulfillment -- to bring
all things in heaven and on Earth
together under one head, even
Christ." (Ephesians
1:9-10)

It is God's will to have
all humanity saved. And because nobody
can thwart God's will, then the only conclusion is that all
humanity will be saved.

b. "[Christ]
is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours
but also for the sins of the whole world." (1
John 2:2)

c.
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all
men." (Titus
2:11)

d.
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels,
now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death,
so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."
(Hebrews
2:9)

e.
"And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son
to be the Savior of the world." (1
John 4:14)

f.
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men --
the testimony given in its proper time." (1
Timothy 2:5-6)

g.
"And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live
for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised
again. (2
Corinthians 5:15)

"To
appreciate heaven well it is good for a man
to have some fifteen minutes of hell."
- Will Carleton